Soldier Down
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Set in the AU verse of Maxie’s pre-wedding dream. When Spinelli was all badass and soldiery, likewise to Jason. JaSpin!


Soldier Down

_**Set in the AU verse of Maxie's pre-wedding dream.  
Kind of picks up where the dream left off. Ugh… yeah. For Suerum. Characters not mine! Enjoy!**_

* * *

"Damn it." Jason growls, ducking behind a stack of wooden crates in the warehouse long enough to swap out his magazine and check his ammunition. He's running low, somehow, and working solo is a lot harder than he remembers it being.

One of his enemies fires on the crate, and he knows it won't last much longer as a line of defense – he'll have to move soon. "Come on out, Morgan, you're outnumbered." And he is, they have at least eight more guys that Jason knows of, maybe more than that scattered around.

He shifts enough to get a few shots off over the top of the crate, but one of the other gunman circles around and manages to wing his shoulder with a lucky shot. Cringing in pain as blood flows from his arm and the pain clouds his vision, he takes the shooter down.

This is really not going how he'd anticipated.

"Morgan! Give it up!" Their leader shouts again, and now three more men are circling around.

Jason fires back with all he has – it won't be enough, but he has to try – and waits for the end. Only, it doesn't come. The countless echoes of fired shots are still coming, and he can hear bullets ricocheting off of the walls and floor, but none hit him. He dares to look again, and finds the three men down and out.

"Need some backup?" Comes a familiar voice that is somehow nearby. There's Spinelli, situated behind another pile of crates just a few yards away from him. His tech genius, best soldier, best friend, waves him over and he moves quickly. Thankfully, he's come with more than enough ammo.

Jason loads his gun quickly, ignoring the pulsating pain in his arm. "Thought you were off to Paris." He comments, as they are fired upon again. "Didn't think you were coming back."

"The Jackal made yet another life altering decision on approach to the airport." He answers, but they don't really have the time to elaborate right now. He leaves a good amount of ammunition with Jason and takes some for himself. "On your six." Spinelli assures, once Jason is in position to fire, and moves a good distance away so that he can better cover his Master.

Once he's set up, he gives Jason a signal and the shooting starts all over again. Jason takes out a few of the guys – they belong to a rival mob that's a new fixture in Port Charles, their bosses name is Veccio – before Spinelli even has anyone to defend Stone Cold from.

…And then there are a lot of people to defend him from.

Spinelli had scouted the location he'd left Jason in from the building specs he looked over on his way to the warehouse, but, it seems, the blueprints somehow disregarded a catwalk like thing that overlooked that hiding place.

A handful of Veccio's men were apparently more informed than he was. They're spread out across the catwalk, taking careful aim at Jason, who is oblivious to their presence.

"Stone Cold…" He mumbles quietly, afraid for his Master's safety as he changes his line of fire. He takes out the first man with one shot, and unlike Spinelli had hoped, he falls back, and Jason remains unaware. The second guy takes a stomach hit and fires back, but Spinelli's second hit takes him down.

By now, they've opened fire, but he's bought Jason enough time to move out of their sights.

"Spinelli, fall back!" Jason shouts in his direction, and doing the same himself.

The hacker does as told, moving back to another hiding place that is better covered from the angle he's concerned about. He settles in just in time to watch Jason pick off several of his aggressors. Spinelli remembers the grenade amongst his supplies and silently signals Jason as to his plans. They've been working together like this for so long that words are hardly a requirement anymore. Jason heads for the door, Spinelli not far behind him as he pulls the pin on the explosive and hurls it strategically toward the center of the warehouse, where it will do the most damage to the remaining opponents.

The second he gets outside the building, Jason's good hand curls around his arm, pulling him down and behind another large collection of crates. "Stay down." Jason hisses, even though they both know that already.

A second later and there's a huge boom. It shakes the ground beneath them and the feel of heat from the warehouse walls is strong.

"The Jackal would propose that it is indeed time to depart from the vicinity post haste." Spinelli prompts, still huddled against Jason in their hiding spot. "Stone Cold's wounds shall likely need to be inspected."

Jason nods and they can already hear sirens on the way to check out the explosion, so they really do need to get moving. "Yeah, let's go." He agrees, and Spinelli helps him to stand again.

Spinelli gathers their weaponry in a duffel bag that he slings over one shoulder and then shifts to prop himself against Jason as they make their way into the shadows and away from the warehouse.

"Cars parked three blocks over." Jason tells his protégé, trying his best to mask the pain. Spinelli's seen him hurt before, of course, but he doesn't have to like it.

"I know," Spinelli answers, having scoped Jason's preparations before he'd arrived as back-up. And it doesn't take terribly long to get there, but the sirens have definitely reached the warehouse by the time they do get there.

Once they are within the safety of their getaway vehicle, Spinelli sits Jason down in the passenger seat, using the overhead light in order to inspect the damage done by the bullet. "A shoulder wound of that magnitude appears to require hospital level treatment; the Jackal would hazard to guess." The bullet went clean through Jason's shoulder – mostly through muscle, it appears, and seems to have landed itself somewhere near his collarbone. Judging by the swelling, it might be fractured. "Stone Cold?"

As much as Jason wants to argue, as much as Jason hates and despises hospitals, Spinelli's right and he knows it. He can barely move his arm. It's a wonder her managed to keep shooting. And he has lost a good bit of blood from the wound. "Alright, hospital it is." He agrees without a fight.

Spinelli helps him fully into his seat and circles around to the driver's side himself. "Perhaps Mercy Hospital instead, to dissuade any correlation to tonight's events." He suggests, and Jason agrees to that as well.

They lapse into silence while Spinelli drives on, and after a few moments, Jason breaks it. "So what was your other life altering decision?"

Spinelli makes a sharp turn, as careful as he can be of Jason's injuries. "As it were, your Jackal came to the rather surprising realization that it was not Maximista or the Original Blonde One whose presence he desired, but, ugh, rather that of his Stone Cold Mentor's." The hacker answers, talking so fast that had Jason not been self-trained in the art of Spinelli-speak, it likely would not have been understood.

Jason stares, absorbing that information. "So. You're… picking me?" He clarifies, unsure whether or not he'd interpreted the meaning behind that statement correctly.

"Affirmative."

***

Jason puts up his usual fight against all things medical upon arriving at Mercy. The lack of familiar faces – ones that he knows he can trust – is further irritating him. They try to dose him with morphine to help with the pain, but he refuses. He does allow the bullet to be extracted, and bandages to be applied and a sling, as well. He even allows an x-ray. But enough is enough.

Spinelli, confined to the waiting room, is not surprised in the least to find Jason reappearing just a short while after disappearing into the treatment areas in the depths of the hospital. He's more than accustomed to his Master's propensities toward hospitals.

"Ready?" Jason prompts, moving already toward the door, even as he rips up a prescription they'd forced on him. He tosses it in the trash as he goes, Spinelli on his heels.

The younger nods, playing with the keys tucked into his pocket. "Indeed, Stone Cold." He doesn't question the move, nor any other Jason makes with regard to his own health – at least not tonight, as he's ninety percent sure he'll be leaving aspirin out for Jason when he wakes up in the morning, as he has countless times before.

They get into the SUV in silence, Jason once again uncharacteristically on the passenger's side. Spinelli flips the radio on, just for the background noise and drives off.

Jason flips it back off just a moment later. "Why?"

"Pardon?"

"Why did you come back?"

Spinelli bites his lips, eyes breaking from the road for a quick second before darting back. "The Jackal has already informed you of the reason, Stone Cold."

Jason glares, icy blue eyes earning his nickname. "Why are you picking me?"

"O- oh." The hacker soldier stutters, unsure of exactly how to best answer that particular question. It involves a lot of stuff he isn't… supposed to actually know, per se. "Well, as it were, your Jackal has always looked up to and admired you. Certainly I would not be who I am today without Stone Cold's impressive influence. And… the Ace of Cyberspace may have happened upon some information that would suggest that his mentor has had certain… inclinations in the past. Ones that I may also seem to possess." The explanation is far more stuttering and cautious in its recitation, so much so that Jason is actually pretty sure the kid is shaking.

Recalling their earlier conversation, combined with that information, it clears things up a bit. "Ah." Jason answers, quite surprised to have that part of his past brought up again. He's not even going to ask how Spinelli happened upon this information.

An awkward silence takes over again and stays in place even as they arrive back at the penthouse.

"Stone Cold?" Spinelli finally prompts, as they head up the stairs. He's concerned by his mentor's reaction – or rather lack thereof.

Jason's already out the door though, and digging his own keys from his pocket to unlock the door. When he does finally get the thing open, which proves to be quite difficult when one hand is in a sling, he finds quite the surprise on the other side of the door.

The toys and Sippy cups and everything else that had managed to spread itself amongst his beloved home are gone. Totally. There are no traces that three children live there. And, as Jason catches sight of the note stuck to the desk by the door, he realizes that it's because they no longer do.

Spinelli, just stepping in behind him, is similarly surprised by the state of non-tornado Casa de Stone Cold is in. "I…"

Jason passes him the note. It's addressed to him, presumably because Maxie hadn't been expecting Spinelli's return.

"_Jason,_" It reads. "_I'm taking the kids and staying at Mac's. Contact me there if I missed anything. Don't contact me about Spinelli. I'm done._" It's unsigned, but they can both recognize her handwriting easily enough. Hastily scrawled in green crayon under Maxie's message is another from Spinelli's son. "_Bye, Uncle Jason! Miss you!_"

He watches Spinelli carefully, unsure as to how he'll react. He knows from experience with Sonny that losing kids can trigger all kinds of unpredictable behavior. However, Spinelli just kind of shrugs. "Can't say I wasn't expecting such actions on Maximista's part." He laments, saddened obviously, that his kids are gone. Not so much by the Maxie part.

"I'm sorry, Spinelli." Jason says. "You alright?"

The younger nods, setting the paper down again. Pictures have been left on the mantle – presumably because they're Jason's copies, and that's all that's really left of the last several years.

Jason knows that things have been more than strained between Maxie and Spinelli for a while now. This he expected. The break-up. The kids leaving. But, he hadn't expected Spinelli to be leaving Maxie – in a kind of roundabout way – for him. He's not really sure how he didn't catch on to that.

"You should rest." Spinelli says out of nowhere. Eyes looking everywhere but at the desk or mantle.

Jason's surprised by the change, but he figures that he shouldn't be. He's trained Spinelli to be a soldier, and a damn good one at that. He's masking, Jason knows. Hiding. "I'm good." He lies. He's not leaving Spinelli alone right after this. No way.

Spinelli seems to catch on to that, as well. Their ability to talk without using words is helpful like that sometimes. "I think I'll go see what's left of my room." He suggests and retreats toward the stairs. Jason follows.

He checks the kid's room first, finding just the barest remnants. The bed his son slept in – no longer with covers on it. And the crib his daughter had slept in, also stripped of its blankets. He presumes that Robin and Patrick are supplying a substitute crib for Mac's house. An empty dresser sits in one corner of the room. Spinelli frowns and shuts the door.

His and Maxie's room. The pink room. The bed is stripped as well, and the dresser is empty – Maxie's stuff is gone, Spinelli's stuff is strewn about the room. Maxie's make-up collection that had previously been cluttering up the bathroom, is gone, as well. It's like she was never even there.

"Crash in my room." Jason suggests, seeing the disarray Maxie's moving out had caused in the room. Spinelli's things were not nicely moved out of the way. Everywhere else looks cleaner than it has since the wedding and yet the pink room looks like a bomb went off in it. "I'll take the couch."

Spinelli bites his lip, taking in the damage. "You can't sleep on the couch with your arm, Stone Cold. I'll do that."

Jason shrugs. Not looking pleased with that idea. Spinelli can tell what he's thinking.

"You don't want me running off in the middle of the night." He guesses. More than guesses. Knows. "Relax, Stone Cold. I'm not going anywhere." He frowns, though, looking back to the kid's room.

"I want to keep an eye on you." The elder says. "I've seen this situation too many times to count. I want to know that you're not going to do anything. At least for tonight. I don't want you out after what we just finished." He knows that Spinelli knows all of this. That Spinelli would never intentionally slip up after a mob-related job. He's too good for that. "So, just take my room for tonight."

"Your arm-" Spinelli insists again, because really, that was his only reason, even if he understands Jason's point of view.

"Then we'll both crash in my room."

The hacker nods. "I suppose that's amenable." He agrees, and they both go about their own nighttime routines, meeting up in Jason's room just a few moments later. "Bed?" He inquires, perfectly willing to sleep on the floor. As much as he came back prepared to become involved with Jason, it's definitely not something he wants to do overnight. He's not even sure if Jason is actually on board yet.

"Sleep." Jason cautions, lifting the covers in invitation. "Just sleep."

"Indeed." Spinelli answers, but after several moments of tossing and turning on his part and some awkward and painful shifting to avoid putting pressure on his shoulder on Jason's, they end up kind of curled up together.

"You sure you want to pick me?" Jason asks, when they're both close to sleep. Spinelli can probably, maybe, at least have a chance at fixing this if he tries right here and right now, but…

"Yes."


End file.
